Ailing Fountain Valley Has Enough Kick to Beat Carson

Fountain Valley High was supposed to be too banged up to compete with Carson, the defending Los Angeles City Section champion.

But a team that was short on manpower Saturday night was long on heart, and Fountain Valley survived with a 17-14 victory on Darryl Kaminsky’s 27-yard field goal with 6 minutes 26 seconds remaining in front of about 3,000 at Orange Coast College.

Still, Carson might have defeated Orange County’s fifth-ranked team if not for a pair of fumbles, the second coming at the Fountain Valley nine-yard line with 35 seconds remaining. James Robinson, who rushed 26 times for 157 yards, lost the ball and Robert Chavez found it.

“At the end, we were just trying to keep it together,” said Chavez, part of a defensive unit that couldn’t stop the Colts from rushing from their 27 to the 13 before Robinson coughed it up on the 11th play of the drive.

Robinson, who scored touchdowns on runs of three and two yards, had another fumble that was just as costly. On the first drive of the third quarter, he lost his grip as he was completing what would have been an 18-yard touchdown run; instead, the ball squirted from his hands as he was being tackled and it went into the end zone and out of bounds. Fountain Valley got possession at the 20.

Kaminsky, who kicked the winning field goal, was ailing. But he was at least in uniform--unlike starting quarterback Casey Clark (probable mononucleosis), who is also a starting free safety and punter. And Bernard Fano (neck), who starts at tight end and defensive end. And starting cornerback Chad Triplett (shoulder). And linebacker Joey Flores (back).

“He had a pulled [quadriceps],” Fountain Valley Coach Eric Johnson said of Kaminsky. “After our JV kicker [James Hartley] missed the extra point [in the first quarter], I told him, ‘You’ve got to kick it.’ ”

It was ugly, as the left-footed senior stumbled in his approach. “But,” Johnson said, “we got it through.”

The Barons improved to 2-0; Carson dropped to 1-1.

Fountain Valley scored twice in the first quarter, taking advantage of a short field.

Fountain Valley’s Vincent Nguyen blocked Justin Cooper’s punt and Jermaine Snell recovered at the Carson 11. Two plays later, Michael Kotler scored from eight yards. Hartley’s point-after attempt sailed right, but the Barons had a 6-0 lead.

The Barons added to their lead when a 34-yard drive was boosted by a 16-yard late-hit penalty. Jake Schlottman followed with a pass over the middle to wide open Charles TeGantvoort, whose catch-and-carry covered 18 yards for the score. TeGantvoort’s reception at the back of the end zone on the two-point conversion made it 14-0.

Schlottman, in his varsity debut, completed three of eight passes for 49 yards, and had one intercepted.

“This game means so much to us,” said TeGantvoort, whose team was outgained, 255-113, but survived with four takeaways, including two interceptions by Nguyen--one at the Barons’ one-yard line. “We had some key players missing and these guys are the best in L.A.

“This proves we can do anything. Anything is possible from here. We took advantage of our opportunities and earned everything we got.”